Methods of Obtaining Confessions and Information from Persons Accused of Crime
About This Book
Presented at the fifty-first congress of the American Prison Association in 1921, this report details the practice commonly known as the "Third Degree," a means of obtaining information from persons under suspicion of crime involving a high degree of pressure applied to the accused to compel them to confess or to give evidence that the persecutor desires. The prosecuting attorneys and chiefs of police in some of the largest cities in the United States answered questionnaires regarding the practice of this interrogation. The report also looks into the possible abuses that exist in this method and potential reforms.
B. OGDEN CHISOLM was International Prison Commissioner, Washington, D.C.
HASTINGS H. HART was director of the Department of Child-Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation.